Challenge Tesla, Nissan Prepares Cars That Can Drive Alone In 2028

JAKARTA In the midst of the dominance of Tesla's semi-autonomous technology such as Full Self Driving (FSD) and Autopilot, Nissan has begun to prepare great steps to enter the same arena. Although, this feature often reaps product withdrawals, it remains the most widely used hands free feature in the United States.

The Japanese automaker announced a significant investment to develop a new generation of automated driving systems. In an interview with Automotive News, Nissan Americas Product Planning Head Ponz Pandikuthira confirmed that the new system is targeted to be present in early 2028.

This technology will be fully automated, control vehicles along the way, and is designed to compete directly with Tesla's FSD capabilities. Camera-based and without geographical restrictions, Nissan's approach takes advantage of collaboration with British artificial intelligence company Wayve.

"Our goal is a camera-based system at a very affordable price. And in the end it's a lidar version that allows you to take a nap in the car while driving," Pandikuthira said, quoted Friday, December 12.

Unlike other manufacturers or Waymo approaches that combine cameras, radar, and lidar, Nissan and Wayve rely on neural networks that learn from driving recordings for hours.

This strategy allows development costs to be suppressed, so that Nissan's latest autonomous technology package can be offered at around US$4,000. That's only half the price of Tesla's FSD package.

"There is a new interest in the company to have a truly capable automatic driving system. This will make ProPilot accessible to the general public," he said.

The Nissan Ariya prototype with 11 cameras, five radars, and one lidar is said to have been tested on the highway to develop this system. Although the first model to adopt it has yet to be confirmed, the latest generation ProPilot technology is likely to be compatible with Fleet, Pathfinder, and Rogue.

Japan and North America are expected to be the first markets to have access to. However, the road to launch is still long. Nissan had to go through a number of regulatory requirements in the US, including testing validation and strict technical tests.

Even so, the company believes its investment is not just an attempt to chase Tesla, but part of a mission to strengthen the safety aspect of driving.

"We will market it because of the active safety features it offers. And what it does for the customer experience that makes land travel much more fun and much less tiring," Pandikuthira concluded.